anything of his plans which could usefully be imparted to
Miss Morriston. Evidently there was nothing to be got out of him; the
rather open confidence he had displayed on his first appearance at
Branchester had quite disappeared, and if Gifford was to find out
anything worth reporting it would assuredly not be due to any
communication from the man himself.

He had accordingly to be content with the resolve to keep a wary eye on
Henshaw's movements.

He was now pretty free to do this. The Tredworths had ended their visit
at Wynford and had returned home, and naturally Kelson spent much of his
time over there, leaving Gifford to his own devices. It had, in view of
Gifford's commission from Miss Morriston, been arranged that he should
share Kelson's rooms at the _Golden Lion_, no longer as a guest, so that
both men were now independent of each other. The date of Kelson's wedding
seemed now likely to be put off for some months, as his friend had
suggested. The unpleasant episode of the stains on Muriel Tredworth's
dress had, although there was no indication of attaching serious
importance to them, nevertheless cast an uncomfortable shadow over the
happiness of her betrothal, and without giving any specific reason she
had declared for a postponement of the wedding, for which there was,
after all, a quite natural reason.

"Perhaps it is just as well," Kelson remarked to his friend. "Although it
is absolutely unthinkable that Muriel could have had anything to do with
the affair, yet one can quite appreciate her wish to wait till perhaps
something crops up to give us the explanation beyond all question. It is
rather a blow to me, and I hope if the mysterious Mr. Gervase Henshaw is
really on the track of the crime he will produce his solution without
much more delay. For a girl like Muriel to have even the faintest
suspicion hanging over her is simply hateful."

Meanwhile the mysterious Mr. Henshaw seemed in no hurry to make known his
theory, if he had one. Yet he still remained in Branchester, writing all
the morning and going out in the afternoon, usually with a handful of
letters for post. He always nodded affably to Gifford when they met, but
beyond a casual remark on the weather or the events of the day, showed no
disposition to chat.

But now while Gifford was in this unsatisfactory state of mind,
persevering yet baffled in what he had undertaken to do, a very singular
thing came to pass. He strolled out one afternoo